Mommsen: European Tournament?

Scotland captain, Preston Mommsen, has backed the creation of a European cricket tournament to offer more high-profile matches to ICC Associate players.

Mommsen, who was among the frustrated Grange personnel at Mannofield on Saturday as the club’s Eastern Premier League match against Aberdeenshire, was controversially abandoned, said it was time the sport’s emerging nations were given greater assistance by the game’s ruling body.

He added: “Some sort of European championship would move things forward, because the simple fact is that we need more matches and a more coherent fixture schedule.

“I know that the Dutch are in a similar position to us. Then there is Ireland and it would be terrific if we could get England involved at some level.

“Perhaps it could be their Lions side. Or even an under-21 team, because there isn’t any regular ICC competition for countries at that level. And there are other European sides making progress including Jersey [who are coached by former Scotland star and Aberdeenshire mentor, Neil Macrae].

“Of course it’s frustrating when the weather intervenes and matches get called off. We travelled up to Aberdeen today at 8am and we won’t get back down there until 7pm.

“It’s difficult. And the pitch was pretty wet when we arrived, so I am not blaming anybody for the match not going ahead, because all the players were left frustrated at the end.

“But, for the international guys, we need more opportunities to be playing at a high level. We were at the World T20 in March, then our next games [against Afghanistan] weren’t until this month. And we only ended up with one match there.

“Participation numbers are going up in cricket, as the new figures from Sportscotland have shown.

“But we have to come up with ways of creating a more intense fixture schedule and something based around the European teams would definitely help in that process.”

Neil also recorded a video of the conditions in Aberdeen on Saturday. This can be seen at https://youtu.be/4BS7qC6UlTo